Sunday, February 28, 2010

Jan, Feb 2010

Stable on her feet now, Mina walks everywhere she can. It's a mixed blessing. We've been venturing out more often visiting local parks and playgrounds. Mina loves to look at the big girls, especially ones that are really girly with pigtails or fancy outfits. She's still pretty shy, but has a few friends her own age that she's comfortable with. In January we started going to a music/singalong group called Mothersong. Some days Mina is social and really enjoys herself, other days it's a bit overwhelming and she clings to Mommy. The unfortunate part of being out and more social is that Mina is exposed to cooties from the other kids. She had a little cold in January, mostly just a runny nose and some sneezing.


January 2010

Mina is still a good reader and will now point to and say "cat" when she sees one in a book! Funny, about cats - Mina will wave hello to Mommy, Poppy or any cat. That's it.



Front tooth #2 made it's long-anticipated appearance this month. So cute. A few days after that Mina took the initiative, grabbed a baby spoon and started feeding herself while we were all eating dinner. While she prefers to eat off of Mommy or Poppy's plate, she has ordered her own entree while dining out... steamed brown rice!

Mina feeds herself! from Greg Wiatroski on Vimeo.




Mina's First Birthday

To celebrate this momentous occasion we took a mini-vacation to Disneyland, staying overnight at The Grand Californian. (Mommy & Poppy love this hotel) We arrived at The Magic Kingdom in the late afternoon, checked into the hotel and then headed towards the park. By the time we got to Main Street it was dark and beautifully lit up. Mina loved it. We got her Micky Mouse ears and a light up balloon. It's a Small World was the first ride we went on and she seemed to enjoy it, but the next ride was her favorite. The Carousel! After that we went on The Pirates of the Caribbean and Mina dozed off.



The next morning, Mina's official Birthday, we had brunch at Storytellers Cafe in the hotel. There were characters at the restaurant, Dale (of Chip and Dale) along with a lion and gorilla (who's names I don't know). Mina was scared at first because the gorilla sort of took her by surprise, but in the end she was entertained by them and even touched the lion's nose. Mina's birthday cake was a vegan cupcake sweetened with agave. She didn't eat any of it herself but had fun feeding it to Mommy and Poppy. After brunch we headed back to the park, played in Toon Town and then went on the Haunted Mansion. While walking around trying to decide what to do next Mina fell asleep. So we left.



February 2010

12 month Well-Baby visit was good. All is well. Mina got a DTaP vaccine.

Height - 30.5" 90th percentile
Weight - 23.1 lbs. 85th percentile
Head - ? 80th percentile (oopsie, forgot to write it in my journal)

Valentine's Day we spent at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was nice but really crowded. We walked around Long Beach and had lunch at George's Greek Tavern on Pine St. Mina wowed our waitress and ate tons of pita bread. Mina has really developed a fondness for bread, her favorite being Armenian bread from our local breakfast spot Foxy's.



Luckily Mina's getting better at eating food, although she still nurses quite a bit. We've decided to continue breastfeeding until she's 2, as recommended by the World Health Organization.



Being outdoors makes Mina very happy, and even though it's been a wet winter here in SoCal she has still been able to spend lots of time outside. Our backyard is uphill with terraces and steps. She loves to walk up the steps (assisted by Mommy or Poppy) and check things out. There are lavender and rosemary bushes along with succulents and beautiful trees and vines. Mommy taught Mina how to pinch the lavender leaves to release the lovely scent, but of course Mina pinches the leaves of any plant to see if it smells. We took Mina to Descanso Gardens for a Fairy Tour, which was magical and fun.



Mina now takes regular walks in the neighborhood... walking herself while holding hands with Mommy and/or Poppy. She's really good at holding hands, hopefully that will last for a long time. What hopefully won't last is her obsession with closing doors! Oh, and sign language is coming along. She uses the sign for "light" herself and understands many of the signs that we use when communicating with her. Speaking of communication, Mina has been letting us know when she needs a diaper change. It's truly remarkable. She will either fidget and touch her diaper or actually get either the changing pad or the wipes to let us know she needs to be changed! She is also quite helpful around the house. When mommy sweeps up, Mina likes to get in on the action...



Finally, our darling daughter can also tell people how old she is by holding up her finger. Yes... it looks like she's pointing at something, but it's actually one finger meaning the number one. Really. She's quite consistent. :)